The word ‘article’ can refer to an item or a thing (as in ‘an article of furniture’)—but it can also refer to a bit of language.
And you have two choices with this bit of language: you can either say (1) it is a definite something, or (2) it is an example of that sort of something.
In instance of (1) is ‘the car is in front of the house’—which identifies to a particular car (the one parked in front of the house).
An instance of (2) might be ‘I’m going to buy a new car’—which refers to an imprecise example of a ‘car’ (which ever one I chose to buy).
(1) is called ‘the definite article’ (because it’s definite about what it identifies), while (2) is called the indefinite article (since it refers to a class or group of things, not one definite thing).
The definite article is ‘the’ while the indefinite article is ‘a’ or ‘an’—and that’s where (for some unknow reason) English users of the 21st century come unstuck.
In a newspaper I read these words: ‘Donald Trump called off a attack…’ Wrong—the indefinite article must always be ‘an’ before a vowel sound and can only be ‘a’ before a consonant sound.
You and I have known this from infancy, but these days it seems to be forgotten—even by journalists writing for newspapers.
For the dummy at the back of the classroom, I’ll explain how it works.
It should be ‘an attack’ because ‘attack’ starts with a vowel sound.
Simple, isn’t it?
How can anyone be confused about that?
And it applies to vowel sounds rather than vowels.
So, I could say something is ‘an honour’ because although ‘honour’ starts with the consonant H, the H is silent and the first syllable of the word makes a vowel sound.
However (this is the bit that confuses some people) it would be wrong to say ‘an historian’ because in that word the H is pronounced.
To get away with using ‘an’ you’d have to pronounce the word as ‘istorian’—and no one does!
Yes, I know it is awkward because H is a soft, aspirant consonant—but soft or not it is still a consonant.
The trick is to pronounce the H in ‘historian” (and similar words) clearly ad carefully, and you won’t’ fall into that trap!
Tonight I will join James McPherson as a panellist on 'The McPherson Angle' on News24 (formerly Sky News) -- 8pm (AEST)
TO SIGN UP FOR THE FREE DAILY NEWSLETTER SCROLL FURTHER DOWN THIS PAGE >>>>>>
BOOKS:
* My latest book is called Pray Like This. To look at prayer I do what I do in these Ozword columns: I go through the most famous prayer in the world (The Lord’s Prayer, also known as the Our Father) and unpack it word by word—each chapter being a short word-study on a key word in that prayer. There is a total of 21 words studies in all. To find out more, here’s a link to the publisher’s website (where you can buy a copy if you wish): Pray Like This – matthiasmedia.com.au
* My book is Sherlock Holmes: 5-Minute Mysteries -- containing 50 new stories I have written about the great detective. You can find it on Amazon. Just go to Amazon and type in Sherlock Holmes: 5-Minute Mysteries in the search panel. Or use this link: h Amazon.com.au : Sherlock Holmes 5-Minute Mysteries Kel Richards
* My book "Defending the Gospel" is now in a second, fully revised, edition. You can find it here: Defending the Gospel – matthiasmedia.com.au
* If you're looking for my recent book "Flash Jim" you'll find it here -- Flash Jim, The astonis
hing story of the convict fraudster who wrote Australia's first dictionary by Kel Richards | 9781460759769 | Booktopia
* You can find all Kel's books currently in print here -- Booktopia Search Results for 'kel richards'. We sell books, hardback, paperback, audio, CDs.
* And also here -- Amazon.com.au : Kel Richards
* And you'll find more here -- Search: 4 results found for "Kel Richards" – matthiasmedia.com.au
* Many of Kel's out of print books can be found at ABE Books -- Kel Richards - AbeBooks explaining words explain the term
BY THE WAY...
If you'd like to see my A-Z list of Aussie slang, you'll find it here in the Australian Geographic website -- A-Z list of Aussie slang. Here’s the link: The A-Z of Aussie slang - Australian Geographic
The liveliest part of this website is usually the Q and A page -- be sure to check it out from time to time.
